Marble-carrier case

ABSTRACT

The invention relates to a case or container for carrying and storing children&#39;&#39;s marbles without risk of loss. The marblecarrier case comprises a vertical barrel having a plurality of longitudinal chambers and provided with two end-plates, the transverse-section profile of said chambers covering an arc greater than half the perimeter of the marbles in order to hold them imprisoned, one of said end-plates being fixed so as to close the bottom of said barrel, while the other said end-plate is pivotally-mounted on the top of said barrel and comprises at least one peripheral slot adapted to be brought selectively into correspondence with any one of said longitudinal chambers in order to provide access to the selected chamber, either for stacking the marbles in the chamber or for removing one or more of the marbles imprisoned in said chamber.

United States Patent [191 Ayoub et al.

[451 Sept. 30, 1975 1 1 MARBLE-CARRIER CASE [76] Inventors: RobertAyoub; Raymond Ayoub,

both of 12 Bis, avenue Jean Perrot, 38100 Grenoble, France [22] Filed:July 5, 1973 [21] Appl. No.: 376,907

[52] US. Cl. 206/315; 206/526; 220/20;

312/49 [51] Int. Cl. B65D 83/04; B65D 85/58 [58] Field of Search206/315, 379, 459, 527,

206/526; 220/20; 229/52 AC, 54 C; 211/49 R, 49 D; 312/49 [56] ReferencesCited UNlTED STATES PATENTS 623,594 4/1899 Burt 206/527 739,209 9/1903Ocumpaugh a 211/49 R 783,477 2/1905 Strauss 211/49 D 1,095,256 5/1914Willis 206/459 1,675,814 7/1928 Marbury 211/49 D 2,221,704 11/1940Farley 312/49 2,756,901 7/1956 Cowscrt 211/49 D Wilkinson et a1 220/20Davis 220/20 Primary Examiner-William T. Dixson, Jr. Attorney, Agent, orFirm-Young & Thompson 57 1 ABSTRACT The invention relates to a case orcontainer for carrying and storing childrens marbles without risk ofloss. The marble-carrier case comprises a vertical barrel having aplurality of longitudinal chambers and provided with two end-plates, thetransverse-section profile of said chambers covering an are greater thanhalf the perimeter of the marbles in order to hold them imprisoned, oneof said end-plates being fixed so as to close the bottom of said barrel,while the other said end-plate is pivotally-mounted on the top of saidbarrel and comprises at least one peripheral slot adapted to be broughtselectively into correspondence with any one of said longitudinalchambers in order to provide access to the selected chamber, either forstacking the marbles in the chamber or for removing one or more of themarbles imprisoned in said chamber.

3 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures US. Patent Sept. 30,1975

F/GZ

MARBLE-CARRIER CASE The present invention relates to a marble-case whichgives children a greater facility in tidying-away and carrying theirmarbles.

When a game is finished, children generally collect their marbles anyhowin a kind of small bag. These bags serve as carrying and tidying means.However, it frequently happens that as a result of violent or clumsymovements, the bag is overturned and the child is then compelled tocollect his marbles again and thus some of them quite frequently goastray and are lost.

The invention is directed to overcoming the abovementioned drawbacks byproposing a marble carrier of simple and economical constructionsuitable for the most varied requirements and intended to provide aconvenient and rational means of putting away, and also an easy methodof carrying them without risk of loss.

To this end, and according to a first characteristic feature of theinvention, the marble case comprises a vertical barrel with longitudinalfluted grooves and provided with two end-plates, the transverse profileof the said fluted chambers covering an are greater than half theperimeter of the marbles in order to keep them imprisoned, one of thesaid plates being mounted pivotally and comprising at least oneperipheral slot intended to be brought selectively into correspondencewith the said longitudinal chambers in order to permit of access to theselected chamber, either for the purpose of stacking the marbles whenputting them away, or for taking out one or more marbles which are heldimprisoned.

This construction provides in particular an orderly storage of themarbles in a series of stacks effected in the various longitudinalchambers provided for that purpose and easy access to the variouschambers by virtue of the peripheral slot in the pivoted plate whichplays the part ofa liberating means for the stacked marbles when thisslot is brought into coincidence with the selected chamber, while thefull area of the pivoted plate simultaneously plays the part of aretaining means for the marbles stacked in the other longitudinalchambers.

Advantageously, and according to a second characteristic feature of theinvention, the vertical barrel is of cylindrical form and the saidend-plates are circular plates having a diameter substantially equal tothe diameter of the cylindrical vertical barrel.

In a preferred form of embodiment of the invention, the barrel comprisesa central bore intended to permit the insertion and the housing of aseries of marbles arranged in a stack.

It will readily be understood that according to the diameter of thevarious longitudinal chambers on the one hand and of the central bore onthe other hand, it will be possible to make an orderly arrangement ofmarbles guiding means in rotation for the pivoted plate through theintermediary of its central orifice.

According to still another characteristic feature of the invention, thisprojection comprises two oppositelyfacing ports intended to permit thepassage of a belt which simultaneously forms a handle for carrying themarble case and a retention means for the marbles housed in the saidcentral bore.

Other characteristic features and advantages of the invention willfurthermore be brought out in the description which follows b'elow,given by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, inwhich:

FIG. 1 is a view in partly-exploded perspective of a marble caseaccording to the invention;

FIG. 2 is a view in elevation with parts broken away of a filled marblecase similar to that shown in FIG. 1;

FIGS. 3 and 4 are transverse sections of marble cases in accordance withtwo further forms of embodiment.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, and more particularly to FIG. 1,the marble case comprises a vertical cylindrical barrel, generallyindicated at 1, provided with two end-plates 2 and 3 having the samediameter.

In the barrel 1 are formed longitudinal chambers 4 separated by fullzones or facets 5. The are covered by the profile of the transversesection of the chambers 4 is greater than half the perimeter of themarbles to be retained. The closure-plate 3 is fixedly mounted on thelower extremity of the barrel 1, while the plate 2 on the upperextremity is pivotally mounted in the directions indicated by the doublearrow Fl. This plate 2 is provided with a peripheral slot 6, the openingprofile of which covers an are having substantially the same length asthe are covered by the profile of the transverse section of the chambers4.

The barrel 1 with longitudinal chambers is traversed from one extremityto the other by a central bore not indicated in FIG. 1, having adiameter greater than that of the chambers 4. This bore is indicatedgenerally at 10 in FIG. 2. The bore 10 is closed at its lower extremityby the closure plate 3, and is open at its upper extremity, at which itis extended by an annular projection 7 having a diameter at least equalto that of the central bore 10, and defining a passage 20 providingaccess to the interior of the bore 10.

Two oppositely-facing horizontal openings 8 are formed in the projection7.

The pivoted plate 2 comprises at its centre an orifice 9 shaped in suchmanner that the plate 2, after fitting on the annular projection 7 (FIG.2), may be guided in rotation by friction on the outer wall of thisprojection 7, the latter thereby serving as a centering and retenservingas a handle and providedwith a loop 12, known per se, passes through thetwo openings 8 in the projection 7 and thus retains the first marble ofthe stack 13 in its housing, andthat' the facets 5 formed by the fullareas which separate two successive chambers 4 have been graduated so asto indicate the number of marbles 14 in each chamber 4 and in the wholeof the chambers 4 of the marble-case.

Thus the child, by simply reading the reference marks on the facets 5 isimmediately able to know the number of marbles remaining in his case. Inorder to remove one or more marbles from the chambers 4, the childshould rotate the pivoted plate 2 until the slot 6 is brought intocoincidence with the desired chamber 4, and then by simply tilting thebarrel 1, he can take out the desired number of marbles. After takingthe required quantity, if necessary in several of the chambers 4, hewill close these latter by a further rotation of the plate 2 in order tobring the slot 6 between the communication openings of two successivechambers 4. Before putting back the marbles 14, he will have to carryout the reverse movement, namely to replace the slot 6 in coincidencewith an unfilled chamber 4, and again move the plate 2 pivotally into aposition in which it closes the whole of the chambers 4.

In order to provide access to the stack of marbles 13 of larger diameterhoused in the central bore 10, these latter being retained by the strapor handle 11 (FIG. 2), the child will open this strap by the loop orbuckle 12, then by sliding the strap 11 out of the openings 8 in orderto free the passage 20, and by turning over the marble-carrier unit hecan collect the desired number of marbles 13. In order to replace themarbles 13 in a stack in the bore 10, the passage 20 remaining free, itis only necessary to introduce the marbles 13 one by one into the bore10 and then to pass the strap 11 back through the openings 8 to obtainthe closed position of the passage 20. The handle 11 will then be closedby means of the buckle l2.

The marble-case which has just been described has an economic advantagesince it does not necessitate any special method of manufacture. Infact, the barrel 1 of the marble-carrier case can be produced byassembly around a central tube of given diameter, of a series oflongitudinally-split tubes having a diameter and length less than thoseof the central tube, this series of tubes being intended to constitutechambers such as 4 previously described.

For the reasons indicated above, the width of the slots will of courseremain less than the diameter of the balls to be retained. There will beemployed for exam ple tubes of polyethylene assembled together in themanner described above, for example by sticking. There can then be addedto the barrel thus obtained, by sticking, a lower plate such as 3, andthis latter will be fixed on the corresponding extremity of the barrel 1in order to serve as a closure plate. At the opposite extremity, a platewill be mounted by fitting on the annular projection, formed in thiscase by the excess length of the central tube of the largest diameterover the length of the split tubes of smaller diameter which form thechambers 4, a plate in which there have been formed for that purpose acentral orifice and a peripheral slot such as 6.

It will also be understood that the channelled barrel 1 may be producedin the form ofa monoblock element by a process of extrusion.

In all cases, there is obtained a light marble-carrier case having anattractive appearance.

It will of course be understood that the invention is not in any wayrestricted to the form of embodiment described and shown. but includesall its alternative forms.

Thus, a number of profiles of transverse sections may be chosen for thechambers 4 and the central bore 10, and in consequence the number ofchambers can be varied as a function of the number and of the diameterof the marbles to be housed.

As shown in FIG. 3, there may be designed a barrel 1' groovedlongitudinally with two series of three chambers 15 of small sizelocated on each side of two facing chambers 16 of larger size, thediameter of the central bore 15' corresponding to the diameter of thechambers 15. In this particular method of construction of course, theperipheral slot of the upper pivoted plate, similar to the plate 2, willhave a diameter corresponding to the largest diameter of the chambers 16in order to liberate the marbles from the chambers 15 and FIG. 4illustrates another form of construction in which a barrel 1" comprisesa series of three longitudinal chambers 17 of large diameter alternatingwith three chambers 18 of smaller diameter. In this particular case, thediameter of the central bore 18' will correspond to the diameter of thesmall chambers 18, and the diameter of the slot in the upper pivotedplate will of course be at least equal to that of the large chambers 17.

Other arrangements could be provided for chambers having a differentprofile of transverse section, depending on the final appearance whichit is desired to obtain, the principles of assembly of the otherelements remaining identical with those already described with referenceto FIGS. 1 and 2.

What we claim is:

l. A marble-carrier case comprising a vertical barrel having a pluralityof longitudinal chambers and provided with two end-plates, thetransverse section profile of said chambers covering an are greater thanhalf the perimeter of the marbles in order to hold them imprisoned, oneof said plates being rotatably mounted and comprising at least oneperipheral slot adapted to be brought selectively into correspondencewith said longitudinal chambers in such manner as to provide access tothe selected chamber, either for the purpose of making a stack ofmarbles or for removing at least one of said marbles which are heldimprisoned, said one plate having a central orifice having a diameter atleast equal to a central bore formed in said barrel, one extremity ofsaid central bore of said barrel being closed by a fixed end plate,while the opposite extremity of said bore is extended to form an annularprojection forming a retention centering and rotational guiding meansfor said pivoted plate.

2. A marble-carrier case as claimed in claim 1, in which the annularprojection of said bore comprises two oppositely-facing openings adaptedto permit the passage of a strap which forms simultaneously a handle forsaid marble-carrier case and a retention means for marbles housed insaid central bore.

3. A marble carrier case as claimed in claim 2, said strap beingcontinuous whereby one portion of said strap provides said handle andanother portion of said strap provides said retention means.

1. A marble-carrier case comprising a vertical barrel having a pluralityof longitudinal chambers and provided with two endplates, the transversesection profile of said chambers covering an arc greater than half theperimeter of the marbles in order to hold them imprisoned, one of saidplates being rotatably mounted and comprising at least one peripheralslot adapted to be brought selectively into correspondence with saidlongitudinal chambers in such manner as to provide access to theselected chamber, either for the purpose of making a stack of marbles orfor removing at least one of said marbles which are held imprisoned,said one plate having a central orifice having a diameter at least equalto a central bore formed in said barrel, one extremity of said centralbore of said barrel being closed by a fixed end plate, while theopposite extremity of said bore is extended to form an annularprojection forming a retention centering and rotational guiding meansfor said pivoted plate.
 2. A marble-carrier case as claimed in claim 1,in which the annular projection of said bore comprises twooppositely-facing openings adapted to permit the passage of a strapwhich forms simultaneously a handle for said marble-carrier case and aretention means for marbles housed in said central bore.
 3. A marblecarrier case as claimed in claim 2, said strap being continuous wherebyone portion of said strap provides said handle and another portion ofsaid strap provides said retention means.